Injured Cape Breton cab driver recovering at home

Brian (Putter) Ford, a dispatcher for Dynasty Cabs in Sydney, talks to a customer on Tuesday. Ford said the Dynasty Cabs driver who was allegedly stabbed by a 13-year old boy in Sydney on Saturday suffered numerous horrific injuries. Ford said the driver — who is recovering at home — is a nice man who is well-liked by staff and customers. - Sharon Montgomery-Dupe

‘While blocking shots from the bottle he lost part of a finger’

SYDNEY, N.S. — A Dynasty Cabs taxi driver allegedly stabbed by a 13-year old Sydney boy over the weekend is recovering at home from his injuries.

“It was serious,” said Brian (Putter) Ford, a dispatcher for Dynasty Cabs in Sydney.

“He had 24 stitches up his arm, all kinds of stitches around his eye and part of his ear was missing, was severed off.”

“While blocking shots from the bottle he lost part of a finger.”

It was about 3:40 a.m. Saturday morning when the incident occurred on Bentinck Street in Sydney.

Ford said the driver was part way to the passenger’s destination when the suspect allegedly pulled a beer bottle from his jacket pocket.

The driver didn’t know the boy had a bottle.

“If he had noticed him with a beer bottle he would have told him right away to get out.”

Although it’s unclear what the boy may have been up to, Ford said it appears he was trying to take control of the van that was conveying them, as he was trying to force the driver out of the vehicle.

“The second time the driver was hit with the bottle was when the bottle broke.”

Cape Breton Regional Police happened to be in the area and saw the altercation occurring inside the taxi cab and arrested the youth.

The 65-year-old driver was taken to hospital, bleeding from several wounds. The 13-year-old suspect was also treated in hospital for what police described as a minor injury and then released back into police custody.

Ford said the driver, from Glace Bay, is a retired police officer.

“We feel his training is the only reason things weren’t even more severe,” he said, adding the driver is out of hospital and recovering at home.

The owner and staff at Dynasty are concerned and on Tuesday were checking up on their driver to see how he was doing.

“He is a nice man, a very nice man,” Ford said, adding the driver is well-liked by other staff.

“Losing him is a big loss to us and a big loss to our customers.”

It’s expected the driver will be off the job for quite some time. Incidents like this get all taxi drivers rattled, he added.

“Of course it does. Just the talk of it gets people on edge.”

Drivers worried

Ford said drivers wonder about this happening to them and get worried about picking people up because of it.

“They start to think it could have been them.”

They have had incidents where the drivers who have gome through traumatic situations with passengers couldn’t come back to work, he said.

“Some guys have taken a lot of time off before coming back and trying it again.”

The youth, who cannot be named in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon (a beer bottle) and two counts of breaching court orders.

The suspect made a brief court appearance Monday and was back in court Tuesday for a bail hearing.